Nederburg Winemakers

Nederburg’s red-winemaker, Samuel Viljoen, gives everything to his winemaking and is very in tune with his team. “We are like a band of brothers who spend more time with each other than with our families.” But he never loses his sense of balance.

What this 30-something winemaker loves most about his job is that he is contributing to some of the most meaningful moments in other people’s lives. “It gives me such a great feeling when wine lovers tell me about the Nederburg wine they served to announce an engagement, to toast a birthday, to honour old friends or new ones, to celebrate a new job or a rite of passage. I feel proud and humbled at the same time.”

The Stellenbosch University graduate in viticulture and oenology who was born in Bredasdorp, was assistant red-winemaker at Nederburg for seven years before taking on his current position. Previously, he worked for a mix of small and large wineries, from the highly acclaimed American boutique cellar Domaine Serene in Oregon’s Willamette Valley to the large volume Goudini Winery in Rawsonville with its accent on mainstream markets. His previous South African experience also included stints with Klein Constantia, Fairview and Longridge.

He enjoys the countervailing forces of his role. “You have to be very analytical but also learn to trust your intuition and your taste buds. You need structure but flexibility to work with as many as 23 different varieties at any given time. You must be able to enjoy making minute quantities of special collectible wines and on the same day, switch to making popular wines for global markets, and you must feel at home creating classical but also original, very different wines.”

Pieter Badenhorst, Nederburg’s white-winemaker, grew up in the scenic Boland town of Tulbagh, surrounded by majestic mountains and fertile valleys boasting pristine vineyards.

This is where his interest in wine was piqued - trying to fathom, from an early age, how it’s possible that a microscopic living yeast cell can turn grape juice into wine. It was this scientific occurrence, coupled with the chance to create something tangible, something a little magical and adored worldwide, that fascinated him to the point of pursuing a career in winemaking.

So, after matriculating in 1998, he enrolled for a four-year Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Stellenbosch, specialising in oenology and viticulture. Straight after graduating, he was appointed as Nederburg’s assistant white-winemaker, working under the guidance of cellar-master at the time, Razvan Macici, a gifted winemaker whom Pieter still admires to this day for his contagious passion for wine.

“It was also during this time that I had the pleasure of meeting and working with another immensely talented winemaker, Andrea Freeborough, who now heads up winemaking at Distell, Nederburg’s parent company,” he explains.

In 2019, Pieter’s journey in winemaking came full circle when he returned to Nederburg to head up the white-winemaking team, after more than a decade as winemaker for Fleur du Cap, another of Distell’s prestigious wine brands. In between, he managed to squeeze in some harvest seasons in Germany and France, equipping him with valuable experience and a chance to further hone his winemaking skill.

Nederburg’s talented young viticulturist is Isabel Teubes (29). She took up her position at the award-winning Paarl winery in early December 2019, and is responsible for overseeing all of Nederburg’s vineyards in Paarl, Simondium and Groenekloof, as well as those of its wide network of suppliers in many of the Cape’s top growing areas from Durbanville to Gansbaai, from Elgin to Ceres.

Down-to-earth and unpretentious, she hails from Vredendal, where she was born and raised on a wine farm situated along the banks of the Olifants River.

“I’ve been actively involved in farm activities relating to winemaking and viticulture since the age of 10. I understood early on that the oldest and golden rule for keeping a healthy vine bearing succulent fruit, is to maintain balance between the rooting system and the canopy. Modern viticultural practices and techniques allow us to determine wine styles in the vineyard already. This really excites me!” she says.

Before joining the DGB winemaking team in 2014, she obtained a degree in agriculture from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). Matching her innate passion for wine growing with incredible effort and hard work meant an opportunity to travel to the United States (US) to discover and learn. She spent some time working in the US wine region of Russian River in the Sonoma Valley, where she enjoyed incredible exposure to international viticultural standards and practices.

Isabel says she is driven to succeed by the unique challenge of each harvesting season. “Each vintage is different. Each year comes with its own set of challenges and opportunities.”